Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The date is hard to understand given the election that has just taken place and the pressing issues people raised with us as we have been out campaigning. There is a need for urgent action to address the climate crisis. There is an urgent need to do something about children with disabilities waiting for assessments of need and waiting for services, and to address the crisis in our healthcare and our hospitals. Elderly people are left waiting on chairs for 30 hours when they are sick and unwell and need rest and recuperation. Record numbers of people are without a home going into Christmas. Today, we had the news that house prices have gone up again in the past 12 months by almost 10%. These are huge crises we have now on which we need urgent action, so the idea of delaying the Dáil coming back is utterly unacceptable and sends an incredibly bad message to the electorate who put their faith in electing us to this Dáil.

See this speech in context